Lady&#39;s dress



Oct. 14, 1947. LEHMAN 2,429,188

LADYS DRESS Filed June 14, 1947 'q' 13 I, Ned/a212 '52 WM 9 WM A TTORNE'YY Patented Oct. 14,- 1947 more nanss Nathan Lehman, Brooklyn. N. Y., anignor to wullam Heller, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June is, 1041, semi No. 154,020

The present invention relates to ladies dresses and is more particularly concerned with tubular fabrics of the type commonly sold in the piece-- goods departments of retail stores to be fashioned by the unskilled purchaser into the finished dress.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a tubular fabric of the above type which incorporates in its structure ornamental trimming for the bust portion and especially for the neckline thereof, which trimming contributes to the ease of fashioning the dress from the tube by the 7 1 Claim. (01. 2-474) in Fig. 7, they will compress the fabric against the inner side of the cup at It. The small excess of material thus drawn inward by the tines as they are clenched over will prevent tearing of the fabric due to excessive stretching. The nailheads h are held securely to the fabric by the combined I action of the compression of the fabric against the sides of the cup by the tines and by the penetration of the ends of the reversely bent tines into unskilled purchaser and contributes to the draping of the dress. even of a loose fitting dress and especially at the neckline of the wearer. I

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a front view of one embodiment of the tubular fabric as sold at retail.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the tube as it would appear if extended after being slit along the midline of the back,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view with parts broken away of the dress prepared from the tubular fabric of Fig. 1,

. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the gner appearance of the dress in wear,

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view on a larger scale taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view on a larger scale of one of the nailheads, and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on a larger scale taken on line 'l-l of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, th tubular fabric Ill is preferably of knitwear such as jersey,

of any color or pattern and of the type commonly knit on a circular loom. The tubular fabric is preferably sold in length suitable for a dress. It incorporates on its front near one end thereof a "decorative pattern of metal attachments, preferably nailheads 71.. These may be chrome-plated to give a shiny appearance or may have a dull finish. In the particular embodiment shown, each nailhead comprises a cup-shaped member ll, each of which may if desired have a rosetteshaped embossed face and may be of diameter approximately three eighths inch or less or greater, as desired. Each nailhead has a plurality of tines i2 extending from the rim of the cup substantially at right angles to its face.

Preferably tines l2 flare out slightly from the rim of the out so that when inserted into the fabric of the front part of the tubular fabric they will gather up a small amount thereof and thus when the tines are then clenched over as at I2 the fabric as at ll. As the ends of the tines are bent into the cup, as shown in Fig. 7, there is no danger of injury from their points, either to the person or underclothes of the wearer.

While the nailheads'may be arranged in anyoi a multiplicity of possible patterns, the drawings illustratively show one such pattern defining an ornamental V-type neck, the lowermost nailhead It being in the order of eight inches below th uppermost nailheads h.

Desirably the back of the tube has marked thereon, as for instance by chalk line it, an outline defining a selvage it at the interior of the neck line bordered by the nailheads h. Desirably further chalk lines Il extend longitudinally at equal distances from the symmetrically arranged nailhead pattern to define the lateral lines of cutting for the arm holes, desirably along the lateral folds in Fig. 1. v

It will be seen that the purchaser of the tube would simply cut with a pair of scissors along the course defined by the chalk lines it, would hem in the selvage it thereby left and be guided inv such operation by the inner border of the pattern of nailheads. The arm holes would be out along lines ii and hemmed as at it. The shoulders would be stitched together, as shown at it, laterally of the neck line, the upper edge of which would also be hemmed as at it. Desirably also thezolower end of the tube would be hemmed as at One size of tubular fabric will fit girls an women of a wide range of sizes and shapes. Weighted as it is along itslength by the distributed nailheads, the ornamental neck line was fit the wearer neatly, without curling inward or drooping outward or otherwise detracting from the tailored appearance of the neck line and associated bust in wear, and this regardless of the size or shape of the wearer.. The looseness of the tube below the bust is gathered at the waist line by any suitable removable belt 2!, as suggested in Fig. 4, and the slimmer the wearer the greater the amount of gathering at the waist, again without detracting from the neat lit at the neck line.

Though the invention has its preferred utility amuse By the present invention a girl may, in a few minutes time, convert the tubular article of manufacture shown in Fig, 1 and sold at a relatively low price, into a dress the equivalent of which if purchased as such would cost several times the price of the tube.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and method and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claim, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

As an article of manufacture, a seamless tube of knit fabric having afllxed on one side and near one end thereof a pattern of cupped nailheads 4 with concave under-sides into each of which fabric of the tube is gathered, whereby the'tube may be readily converted into a dress by stitching together that end thereof which is adjacent the naiiheads to form shoulders with an intervening neck opening and by cutting sleeve holes in the sides, such otherwise loosely fitting dress being in wear readily gathered at the waist by means of a separate belt, the fabric between the consecutive nailheads being slightly stressed in wear by virtue of the gathering of fabric into the concavity of each nailhead, thereby in wear securely to retain the neckline against the body. NATHAN LEHMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 429,310 Harder June 3, 1890 1,374,970 Weyand Apr. 19, 1921 1,549,806 Rosen et a1. -e Aug. 18, 1925 2,092,574 Eddy Sept. 7, 1937 2,414,048 Lesavoy Jan. 7, 1947 

